Last night, Joba Chamberlain pitched the final two innings of an 8-0 blowout of the Baltimore Orioles. After the game, the team announced Joba will begin the transition to the rotation.
Without a clear reliever to fill Joba's 8th inning role, every run allowed, every sticky 8th inning situation and every blow lead will lead to second-guessing by the New York media. Just remember this teeth-gnashing and second guessing assumes Job awould have never done the same.
The bigger question is how valuable Joba Chamberlain will be over the rest of the season and who steps up in the Yankees' bullpen to become a more valuable middle relief option. For Joba, there is no reason to believe he won't be better than what Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy have provided so far. That is not a high bar given those two's combined ERA near 9.00. A AAA starter could have done better.
In the bullpen, I expect to see short-term tryout occur between Russ Ohlendorf, Kyle Farnsworth and Edwar Ramirez. None have been especially inspiring. Given current efforts (Ohlendorf) and perceptions (Farnsworth), Ramirez seems likely to ge in the lead right now if only because he is relatively unknown to most fans and doesn't inspire groans when he walks on to the field like Farnsworth does.